The Feldman File covers eBooks, publishing, new media, Internet services, consumer electronics and salsa dancing. (Okay, not salsa dancing, but it'll be interesting to see how many people looking for information on salsa dancing end up here.)

Altucher writes that Ragan stopped waiting for a publisher to choose her, and instead chose herself:

"Because of technology, and the total breaking down of societal,
financial, and psychological barriers brought on by the financial
catastrophe, its become more acceptable, even welcome, to CHOOSE
YOURSELF. You no longer have to wait for the big media companies to call
you. You no longer have to wait for the big companies to reach down
from the sky and offer you a job. You no longer have to wait for some
website to link to you so you can get thousands of followers. You can
work hard, be persistent, and eat what you kill. You can choose yourself
to be the dream you always wanted to be. You build your platform and
then select yourself to be the star of it."

When Ragan began self-publishing, she emailed a book reviewer every day
for the first three months and asked if they were interested in
reviewing her book. If they were, she'd send them a review copy in
whatever format they preferred. Once they published a review, she
tweeted about it or posted it on Facebook. As the number of reviews
increased, so did her sales and interview requests.

Altucher makes the point that self-publishers have to continually market
themselves. Even if you've got a publisher, they're not going to help
you with marketing if you're a midlist author. Writing a book is only the first part of a much longer process to
sell it and build the foundation for future books.

About Me

I spent 25 years in Silicon Valley managing and launching products for Internet, software and hardware companies. I then moved into the book industry, where I advise publishers and distributors on how best to enter the eBook market.